The Kansas City Chiefs are officially on the path to the 2025 season. The Chiefs will look to get back to the Super Bowl after falling short of their third straight championship last season and with free agency and the draft behind them all eyes are locked on rookie minicamp and offseason team activities (OTAs).
While it’s an exciting time for Chiefs fans to get a glimpse at new talent, it can be bad news for players on the roster bubble. Veterans could be fighting for a job in the coming weeks and if things don’t go well, players such as a former draft bust could be looking for a new team by the time the calendar turns to June.
Siaki Ika Could Be Playing for His Job During OTAs
Siaki Ika was a highly-regarded player coming into the 2023 NFL Draft, but slid all the way to the third round, where he was selected by the Cleveland Browns. At 6-foot-4 and 350 pounds, Ika was a punisher for the Baylor Bears, notching 48 total tackles and four sacks over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. But that never translated in his rookie season, appearing in four games without a tackle.
The Browns shockingly pulled the plug on the Ika experiment when they released him last summer and after a brief stint on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad, he came over to the Kansas City Chiefs. Ika’s size could have given him a role on a defensive interior that had a pair of solid starters in Chris Jones and Tershawn Wharton, but had depth issues with Mike Pennel and Derrick Nnadi as backups.
Ika never made it to the Chiefs’ active roster but had an opportunity this offseason. But that door slammed shut when the Chiefs added Jerry Tillery in free agency and defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott in the second round of last month’s draft. With Fabien Lovett Sr. and Marlon Tuipulotu also ahead of him on the depth chart, it might be hard for Ika to make the Chiefs’ practice squad next season.
It’s a tremendous fall from grace for a player who was making first-round strides in his first season at Baylor. But it could be a disappointing end to his time in Kansas City and perhaps his NFL career.